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America’s forests as climate solutions

In America’s fight to reduce carbon emissions, expanding and better managing the nation’s forests would be the cheapest and easiest steps to take.

That’s according to new research by CFAES’ Brent Sohngen, who is slated as one of eight speakers—from academia, government agencies, advocacy groups, and multiple states—in a free public webinar titled “The Economics of U.S. Forests as a Natural Climate Solution.”

Set for April 29, noon to 2 p.m., the webinar is a joint program by CFAES, North Carolina State University, the University of Maine, the University of Idaho, and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations.

Read more about the webinar and Sohngen’s research.

Register for the webinar. (Photo: Getty Images.)

Learn to identify Ohio’s mushrooms

April is mushroom season in Ohio, and you can learn about more than 140 different types—Which ones are good to eat? Which ones could kill you?—in a full-color handbook published by OSU Extension, CFAES’ outreach arm. Titled Mushrooms and Macrofungi of Ohio and the Midwestern States (166 pp.), it’s available in print ($20) and as a PDF ($8.50).

CFAES sustainability news, April 9, 2021

Floating gardens as a way to keep farming despite climate change

Ohio State News, March 31

Ohio bill seeks to deregulate state’s streams, wetlands and ponds

WKBN-TV, Youngstown, March 31; featuring Mažeika Sullivan, School of Environment and Natural Resources and director, Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park

CFAES sustainability news, April 5, 2021

Ohio victory garden program to offer free vegetable seeds to gardeners

Columbus Dispatch, March 28, subscription required; featuring Mike Hogan, OSU Extension, Franklin County

OSU Extension Pike County partners with OSU Office of Student Life to distribute 27,216 meals to county residents

Pike County News Watchman, March 25

Grow an Ohio Victory Garden: 25 counties where you can get free seeds

The Ohio Department of Agriculture and OSU Extension, CFAES’ outreach arm, have kicked off the second year of their Victory Gardens Program, with the program having been expanding this year from 10 to 25 counties because of high demand. Some 8,300 seed packets are available free of charge to the public.

Read the full story, and see which counties are now included.

Weed-free gardens organically?

Cathy Herms, manager of the Weed Lab at CFAES Wooster, presents “Organic Weed Control for the Home or Small Plot” at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 7, in the Organic Food and Farming Education and Research program’s winter webinar series.

“There’s no magic cure for weeds,” the event description says, “but there are biological principles that can guide your approach to weed management and help you avoid chemical solutions.”

Participating in the webinar is free and open to the public.

Find details and the login link.

Just how polluted are some urban soils, and how can organic farming help them?

CFAES scientist Larry Phelan presents “Remediation of Post-Industrial Urban Soils by Organic Management”—based on soil health research in vacant lots in Cleveland—from 11–11:45 a.m. Wednesday, March 31.

His talk is part of the free public winter webinar series by CFAES’ Organic Food and Farming Education and Research program.

Learn more and get the log-in details (scroll down).